Waikerie Gliding Club, Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Airing Date: Mar 29th, 2004
Ever wanted to fly? Head to Waikerie Gliding Club, where they'll have you soaring through the skies in no time. Located three hours' drive from Adelaide, Waikerie Gliding Club allows you to experience the world from a unique bird's eye view and aboard an aircraft that's got everything except one very important thing - an engine!
Waikerie Gliding Club began with a small group of gliding enthusiasts in 1937. Since those pioneering days, the club has gone through many changes and today offers both local and international gliding enthusiasts the chance to glide the skies on a tandem Air Experience Flight.
Once you and your instructor are strapped in, your glider will be towed into the skies by a light aircraft with a strong rope. When the glider gets to the required height, the cable is released and you're as free as a bird!
Once airborne various types of air - thermals, ridge lift and long ridge - keep the glider airborne. A thermal is a volume of warm air heated by the sun, causing it to rise. A ridge lift is when the wind blows against the face of aircraft and forces it upwards. And a long ridge makes it possible to do large distances without turning, generally flying fast and low to stay in the best lift close to the ridge.
Of course, gliding is not just about lifts and riding thermals. Gliders are just as strong and just as manoeuvrable as most powered aircraft, and a good way to discover this is with an aerobatic flight. An aerobatic flight involves taking a high aero tow and using the height energy to perform radical moves around the sky. To get the speed to perform these aerial feats, rather than using power, you turn your height into speed. To be part of an aerobatic flight you do need to have some previous gliding experience.
Whether you choose the soaring Air Experience Flight or a stomach-churning aerobatic flight,
you'll realise that gliding through the air with only mother nature to carry you along is the experience of a lifetime.
The facts:
Qantas flies to Adelaide with prices start at $229 from Melbourne and $373 from Perth.
Qantas
Tel: 13 13 13
Waikerie Gliding Club offer 20 minute tandem flights for $80. An aerobatic flight will cost $120.
Waikerie Gliding Club
Tel: 08 8541 2644
South Australian Tourism Commission
Tel: 1300 655 276
Riverland Tourism Association
Tel: 1300 657 625
Prices correct at 29/03/04
